ABOUT THE BOOK: A classic in modern literary Arabic, The Destitute takes the starvation and suffering of Egyptian peasants during World War I as the point of departure for a treatise on the meanings of poverty and wealth and the ways in which people pervert these according to their own inclinations. Given the present state of confusion concerning the world’s economy and financial systems, beginning with capitalism and the global meltdown, the publication of a work that clarifies the meanings of wealth and poverty couldn’t be more timely.

A scholar of Islamic Transactional Law, Sheikh Yusuf works with international financial entities, including institutional investors, home finance providers, international investment banks, asset managers and governments.

Sheikh Yusuf is the author of the three volume Compendium of Legal Opinions on the Operations of Islamic Banks, the first English/Arabic reference on the fatawa issued by Shari'ah boards. In addition, Sheikh Yusuf wrote the introduction to Islamic Bonds, the 2003 book that introduced Sukuk and transformed the world's Islamic capital markets. His work has appeared in academic and industry journals and as chapters in books, including Euromoney's Islamic Asset Management (2004), Islamic Retail Finance (2005), and Islamic Finance: Innovation & Growth (2002). His entries on the terminology of Islamic finance appear in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam.

Sheikh Yusuf is fluent and has published academic work in English, Arabic and Urdu. He has translated al-Adab al-Mufrad by Imam Bukhari (Imam Bukhari's Book of Muslim Morals and Manners), Fann al-Dhikr wa'l-Du'a by Sheik Muhammad al-Ghazali (Remembrance and Prayer), al-Wahy al-Muhammadi by Rashid Rida, (The Muhammadan Revelation), and the soon-to-be published Kitab al-Halal wa'l-Haram, vol. 14 of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's Ihya 'Ulum al-Din.